


promise

by bakubros



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Childhood, Childhood Memories, Gen, Zine piece, and i'm so happy to finally share this piece with everyone!!, kingdom hearts 15th anniversary, this was honestly such a great project to be a part of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 06:36:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16279511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bakubros/pseuds/bakubros
Summary: The first time Riku meets Sora is when he’s five.





	promise

 

The first time Riku meets Sora is when he’s five. 

He has somewhat of a reputation in their hometown and it’s easy to see why: unruly hair the color of the earth, bright eyes the color of the sea, and coordination so bad he’s fallen out of a tree and struggling to keep his tears in check.

“Oh! Uh… hi! Good mornin’!”

It’s two o’clock in the afternoon.

Riku rolls his eyes.

“Do you even know how to climb? You almost died.”

Sora’s nose crinkles in frustration as he sits up, barely wincing at the pain in his left arm. “Did not!”

Riku just raises an eyebrow. “What were you doing anyway?”

“Um, getting something to eat? Obviously?”

Blue-green eyes glance up at the star-shaped fruits, snorting almost immediately at the sight. “Paopu fruit? Who are  _ you _ trying to impress?”

Sora pouts, “What are you talking about? I’m just hungry.”

If Riku didn’t think Sora was stupid before, he definitely thinks so now. After all, how do you live on Destiny Islands  _ without _ knowing the legend of the paopu?

With that thought, Riku frowns and turns on his heel. This conversation suddenly feels like a waste of time. “Good luck with that then,” he offhandedly throws over his shoulder, already walking away.

“I know that there’s a story behind it or something, but it’s just a  _ story _ ,” Sora mumbles. “If you care too much about old stories, you forget about making your own.”

Riku stops in his tracks.

“And right now, my story is about how  _ hungry _ I am.”

He turns ever so slightly to face the brunet who’s still seated under the tree, rubbing at the dirt on his cheek. 

“The legend of the paopu fruit isn’t _ just _ a story. It’s about making bonds for the  _ future _ .”

“Stories are just words,” Sora murmurs, not even missing a beat as his eyes dance with a wisdom bright enough to rival the glimmer of seafoam and the purity of unlit stars. “And I think that there are sometimes bonds that are too powerful to be captured in words.”

Riku is at a total loss as Sora’s words echo in his mind, basking him in a soft light that smooths away the tension in his shoulders.

It shouldn’t make sense—but it does.

Before he knows it, he finds himself standing in front of Sora once more. “Yeah, whatever,” he tentatively concedes.

The grin on the other boy’s face is one of honest excitement. “So… Friends?”

Riku plays with the word in his mind, knowing that there’s a deeper meaning even here, even in this single syllable, that Sora somehow understands while he cannot. “...Sure. I guess.”

Sora’s too pure to take offense at the obvious hesitation. “Pinky promise?”

“Ugh,” Riku groans, a scowl reflexively taking hold of his features. “Pinky promises are for  _ babies _ .”

For the first time, Sora looks kind of hurt by something he’s said.

And, for the first time, Riku feels a vague sense of guilt over the way he’s been treating him.

After a few moments of hesitation, he extends his hand to help Sora back onto his feet. When the other boy finally puts his hand into his, Riku pulls him up, spins them both around, and hits the tree trunk in its soft spot.

Once Sora gets over the sudden rush of momentum, Riku’s holding a paopu fruit in his outstretched hand and looking down at him with a self-assured smirk.

Sora’s surprise quickly turns into a brilliant smile as his eyes dart back and forth between Riku’s face and the fruit in his hand. “W-Wow, for me?  _ Really _ ?”

Riku can’t help but laugh at the other’s barely contained excitement. “Well, yeah. You said you were hungry, didn’t you? And friends always have each other’s backs, no matter what.”

As Sora eagerly takes the paopu from him, Riku finds himself dwelling on the words from earlier. Maybe Sora’s right about some bonds being stronger than words alone, but maybe they just don’t have the right words for it yet, or maybe they just have some growing up to do—after all, there’s so much out there to see and they’ve hardly seen any of it.

But he figures that maybe it doesn’t matter right now. Maybe it’s something to think about later, not in this moment.

Because in this moment, as he takes a bite out of ripe yellow flesh, the words of a story yet to be written tug at the ends of his hair and pull him out of his thoughts. Suddenly all he can see is the way Sora stains his shirt a bright gold, the way his face is scratched from his ungraceful fall, the way he notices him staring and then unleashes one of those devilish grins that hold the secret to pure optimism behind off-white baby teeth.

Riku doesn’t know what to call the feeling that’s blooming from his chest, but he thinks that—maybe—it’s called happiness.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This was such a fun project to be a part of, so I'm just really happy to share it with everyone. I'm always looking to improve, so comments are super appreciated! c:


End file.
